Pay equality for women was brought up during last night’s State of the Union Address surely as it’s been brought up during the 49 that happened before it. Since the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by former President John F. Kennedy, the fairer sex does not feel it’s seen as much progress as it should have by now.
That’s probably why there’s also the Paycheck Fairness Act being proposed and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in January of 2009.
How many acts, laws and bills does it take fix this if it’s truly what’s going on?
President Obama said that it’s time to put an end to this loophole and, maybe one day, he’ll even do it. For now, though, wrap yourself in the warmth of his blanket of broken promises and hope for a sweet dream to come true. After all, his own staff has its own inequality in pay, averaging a pay difference of 18% between men and women according to a 2011 annual report on White House Staff. Obama’s posse is quick to defend their leader, stating that he has no control over the salaries of his staff.
That doesn’t give much hope to him developing control over the rest of our salaries. But, it’s probably safe to accept at this point that this president rarely ever leads by example.
According to Census Bureau Data in 2013, earnings for a woman still hovered at $0.77 for every dollar a man earned. It is easy to see this as a very black and white situation. One’s a man, the other’s a woman and they’re both working client service jobs. The man is making more and the woman is making less and it’s got to be gender inequality, right? Maybe.
And it would be a pretty hefty difference, too. It would be a difference of $8164.00 per year if the man was making $17.00 per hour.
Unfortunately, a poll, survey or summary such as this cannot be viewed as the total fact. The loopholes may not be within the level of pay, but in the manner that the data is collected.
1) What are the lengths of time each person has spent at his/her position?
2) What is the person’s education level?
3) What is the person’s past job experience?
4) How do the man and woman’s attendance records compare?
5) What is the quality of work like?
6) How is their overall behavior at work? Does each person try their best, take opportunities to go above and beyond and make it a point to work well with everyone?
Without these questions answered, there is no other way to accurately determine that both John and Melissa – hired on the same date, each with three years prior experience and only three call-outs during the past year – are receiving equal pay for equal work.
If Melissa has two little children and has had to leave early or not come in on several occasions during the past month to tend to them, but John has never missed a minute of work, that’s hardly equal work for equal pay. And, yes, we realize that children are important and cannot be left alone with the TV set as a babysitter, but these types of special circumstances cannot be used as handicaps when trying to determine a pay rate that’s fair. Not because we want to punish the working mother, but because of the simple fact that she is not there to complete the same amount of work that John is. With each absenteeism, her work was most likely passed onto John so it would get done in time.
How is that an equal contribution by both?
Call us crazy, but it’s still job performance that warrants the raise, right? Not how much you enjoy working there and you would love to work the mandatory overtime this weekend… but you’ve got kids.
Make sure you wave to everyone still at their desks as you exit the building on Friday evening. Too bad they don’t have kids to take to karate lessons and a birthday party this weekend like you do. They have overtime and a possible mark on their review if they don’t show up for it. You’ll be called a mother. They’ll be called anything but team players.
Sorry working moms. The writers here are giving you a standing ovation right now that you can’t see. Being a parent is the toughest job in the world and not many can balance it with full time work as well. But the company that you work for is not required to consider both positions that you hold when it comes to your pay rate and, if your family requires that you not stay past 5:00 pm, then you are not equal with the ones who do all the time.
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